tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11646417.post3413674292487760739..comments2024-03-26T16:11:40.327-07:00Comments on Behind The Blue Wall: "The average officer who kills themselves..."Behind The Blue Wallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04429113203939514642noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11646417.post-16969225579073404912008-04-22T18:35:00.000-07:002008-04-22T18:35:00.000-07:00CT-Five other Norwalk officers have killed themsel...CT-Five other Norwalk officers have killed themselves<BR/>The Advocate / familybadge.org<BR/>By John Nickerson<BR/>Staff Writer<BR/>March 26, 2008<BR/><BR/>NORWALK - If the death of Officer Matthew Morelli is officially ruled a suicide, he will be the sixth Norwalk police officer since 1974 to take his own life.<BR/><BR/>Morelli, 38, would be the first officer in that time to kill himself while on duty.<BR/><BR/>Veteran Norwalk policeman Richard Walsh, 46, was found dead in a city motel on March 4, 1974. The 20-year department veteran in failing health had not shown up for work that day.<BR/><BR/>On July 23, 1976, Willard Miley, 45, shot himself in the head. The 23-year city officer died at Norwalk Hospital the same day.<BR/><BR/>Larry Ralston shot himself in the head at his Maple Street home on June 29, 1979. The 10-year department officer was discovered that evening with his service weapon lying beside him.<BR/><BR/>On Nov. 8, 1999, Gary Palmer, 45, was found dead at Calf Pasture Beach. Palmer, a 27-year department veteran, and brother to former Norwalk Deputy Chief Mark Palmer, had hanged himself near the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 72 building.<BR/><BR/>"As officers, we end up dealing with people's problems and concerns on a daily basis. . . . But sometimes we don't focus on our own problems," police union President William Curwen said at the time of Gary Palmer's death.<BR/><BR/>On March 13, 2004, officer Paul Stevens, 40, shot himself in the parking lot of Home Depot in Orange. Stevens, a 15-year veteran was alive when police found him but died about an hour later at Yale-New Haven Hospital.<BR/><BR/>Over the past 36 years, two Norwalk officers have been killed in the line of duty.<BR/><BR/>Sgt. Nicholas Fera, 45, was shot and killed July 9, 1971, while attempting to arrest two armed bank robbers in West Norwalk. He served on the force for 19 years.<BR/><BR/>Exactly two months later, police Chief Harry Rilling was appointed a police officer.<BR/><BR/>Officer Marco Carias was killed in Danbury while driving an undercover state police vehicle as part of a Statewide Narcotics Task Force investigation on March 20, 1982. He served on the force for two years. <BR/><BR/>http://nationalpolicenews.familybadge.org/index.cfm/act/newsletter.cfm/category/national%20police%20news/menuitemid/118/MenuGroup/National%20Police%20News/NewsLetterID/22966/startrow/24.htmAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com